Wednesday Bolts – 11.30.11

Zach Lowe of SI on a 66 game schedule: “The Celtics went 19-31 and were generally very bad. They did not have a roster like the current Thunder, a group that includes two of the league’s top 15 players and a bunch of other young guys hitting their primes. You could not build a schedule that would disadvantage Oklahoma City, save for assigning it 66 road games or forcing it to play only the league’s 10 best teams.”

Darnell Mayberry on Battier in OKC: “The Thunder, meanwhile, already has a defensive stopper in Thabo Sefolosha under a budget-friendly contract that will pay him a relatively cheap $10.8 million over the next three seasons. Battier, who has hit 38.5 percent of his attempts from beyond the 3-point arc, is a much better perimeter shooter than Sefolosha, a career 30.4 percent shooter. But Sefolosha is six years younger and still could grow into a more dominant defender and more accurate shooter. There is no doubt, however, that Battier could be a nice fit with the Thunder, a franchise that is creeping closer to a championship and potentially could entice Battier to sacrifice money and playing time to play for a winner.”

Rob Mahoney of the NYT on starting versus coming off the bench: “Even more unfortunate is the other implication of such a rule: if a premium is placed on players who start, then those who do not start – for whatever reason – are deemed by the system to be lesser. The N.B.A.’s owners and players have ingrained games-started as a goal for the coming generations and, in the process, marginalized the value (in the case of this specific contract element) of influential reserves. A spot in the P.A. announcer’s opening roll call took top priority, while the team-first mind-set that brings Odom, Terry or Harden off the bench was thrown into the wind.”

Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak with a great piece contrasting Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker: “But used this way: as a ball-handling creator in transition and a off-ball finisher in the half court, Westbrook combines the best parts of the point guard and off guard roles—a throat-seizing Tony Parker/Dwyane Wade hybrid. Even with a one largely dimensional offensive approach, Westbrook didn’t exactly struggle last year. Players that are constantly messing things up don’t use 30% of the possessions in a top 5 offense. Putting a greater emphasis on off-ball action would make Westbrook even more efficient, and diversify a Thunder attack that had an ugly tendency to bog down for long stretches in last year’s playoffs.”

Hollnger /Ford don't think that the new CBA will allow us to sign Harden and Ibaka. From their Insider article, they break down the CBA for each team:

How it helps: The designated player rule will make it easier for OKC to fend off bids for James Harden -- if he becomes as good as most suspect he will -- when he becomes a free agent in two years … provided they don't have to use it on Russell Westbrook first. My reading of the rule is that they won't since, financially, a max extension with the Thunder would be much more lucrative for the point guard. More on that in a second.

How it hurts: Let us count the ways. First, they gave every bad GM a mulligan with an amnesty rule that, by dint of his never signing a bad contract, Oklahoma City's Sam Presti will likely never have to use.

Second, they stuck the knife in by suddenly making max extensions for Kevin Durant and Westbrook several million dollars more expensive than the Thunder had any reason to expect.

Third, by waiting two years before punitive luxury-tax rules kick in, the new CBA allows rivals in Dallas and L.A. to continue outspending OKC by a factor of 2-1 or so this season and next, just as the Thunder are peaking and trying to win the West.

The Dallas Mavericks will play two preseason games against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The first will be at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at American Airlines Center, and the second at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at Oklahoma City. All teams are playing a pair of games against teams close in proximity. The Mavs and Thunder could be on the cusp of a nice, little geographic rivalry after meeting in the Western Conference finals. The regular season is tentatively set to begin on Christmas Day at the AAC against the Miami Heat.

So a Seattle publication openly questions Oklahoma City's loyalty because one female — probably more girlfriend-of-a-fan than an actual fan — has the mind of a teenager?

How about averaging a sellout, financing a practice facility and substantial upgrades to an arena that was already better than Key Arena for loyalty? I mean, yea, I bet the whole ordeal stings anew with each new piece fawning over how awesome a small market Oklahoma City and how brilliantly managed a franchise the Thunder is, but c'mon. The truth hurts, Seattle, but don't blame the grave you dug on the new girlfriend.

I enjoyed Beckley Mason's piece on contrasting Tony Parker and RW, and I would love to see that kind of offensive scheme implemented for RW in the half court. The question is whether or not the team (and Scotty) has the capability to get a little more complex on offense; the Spurs have a fantastic system because of the coaching, which I'm sure Russ could thrive in, but we just don't have that at the moment.

As another thing though, what would it mean to be a 'creator in transition?' Does it just mean to give the ball to Russ in transition and let him do whatever he wants with it? Just seems like an odd term to use to me.

YEAH, we have a season! All is forgiven. Get ready for Presti to pull a "Collison" to acquire Battier. Ivy and Vaden get released (2 mill worth of non-guaranteed contracts) and Nate gets an amnesty release (4.5 mill that comes off the books w/ owners getting reimbursed by amt. he is ultimately picked up for- I'm guessing 2 to 4 mill). Presti then offers all of our available space up to the cap in yr 1 signing bonus (8 to 9 mill?) on a 3 yr deal that costs us 2 mill or so for each of the last two yrs of his contract.

And fourth, with Westbrook now having about 10 million reasons to make either the All-NBA first, second or third team this season and get the more lucrative rookie extension available to players who do so twice in their first four seasons, the alpha-dog tension between him and Durant will only worsen.

Immediate impact (this season): No change. The Thunder will make a couple of small-change moves for a backup small forward (either re-signing Daequan Cook or going after a role-playing vet like Shane Battier) and hope for the best with the Westbrook-Durant partnership.

Long-term impact (future seasons): It just got a lot harder to keep Serge Ibaka two years from now, since the price on the max deals for Durant and Westbrook just went up and I'm guessing Harden will be the first priority from the 2009 class. While revenue sharing will help a bit, it's hard to imagine this small-market franchise retaining four players with $10 million-plus contracts and a fifth (Kendrick Perkins) not too far away.

@JeffAllen I've had it for the last 5 years or so--the cable version. But this year I am going to try the Broadband only option, which was first available last year. The cable version was $169 dollars I believe. I think the broadband is a bit less, and the overall price may be less for both this year since the season is shortened. Does that answer your question?

@RyanCostello Anyone who thinks that lady's clueless, s l o w - s p o k e n comments were representative of OKC fans has never been near a Thunder game. TBJ was poking fun. That a supposedly professional journalist would make any more of it is a reflection on his or her credibility.

@RyanCostelloIt wasn't the fan's fault that the Sonics left Seattle. There was no problem with fan loyalty or attentdance. Don't go insulting Sonic fans... it's not their fault.

The 'brilliantly managed franchise' has nothing to do with what city they're in either. Presti came from the Spurs. If you want to rave about someone, then rave about how well they taught Presti to run a business.

@JBDW As far as creator in transition, it's probably more just a notion of letting him handle it coming quick up the court. He can drive straight to the bucket, pass to an open KD or Harden, or whatever. He then hands the ball off to Harden if they get back in a set defense and lets him run half-court sets. But I agree, it's odd and maybe a bit of an awkward term.

@erics@RyanCostello So it's OK for the reporter to question the fans in OKC based on a joke video, but we (who also had zero to do with the Sonics being taken from Seattle) aren't allowed to respond in kind? Seems a double standard to me.

Just a little frustrating to have the Thunder's fan loyalty questioned, yet again, by bitter Seattle folk. I do realize that Presti came with the Thunder. So did Durant. I'm saying Seattle fans are rightfully jealous of what they lost.

It's a bummer for them, I get it, but attendance was a problem, if not only because there weren't many sellouts, then also because Key Arena only had space for around 16,000 fans.

And when the renovation / new stadium talk came to Sonic Land, it wasn't publicly embraced as the new digs for the Seahawks and Mariners had very recently been.

So no, it's not any one fan's fault, but c'mon. This Oklahoma City fan base has been called thieves and hicks too much to have the Seattle Post-Intelligencer — which is a good publication, I know — revisit the issue while we're just trying to enjoy some farkin' basketball.

@erics@RyanCostello I can understand that. I actually wasn't a big basketball fan until the Thunder got here and really the only thing I wish was different is how the team got here. Glad you can still root for the team, though, and I do hope you guys get another team soon. It's pretty clear that the Seattle fans got royally screwed over.

Seattle fans are still bitter. They've been bitter since the Sonics left and they'll be bitter long after they get a new team (if they do). It's not something you can empathize with unless it's happened to you. "Responding in kind" is another way of saying "stooping to their level". From what I've seen so far OKC people seem better than that. Enough so that I wish I could move your way. It'd be wonderful so see my team each night on tv or better yet in person... I can say I envy you ;)